I am carb cycling, gluten-freeing, and learning to THRIVE especially while dodging fibromyalgia and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. Losing weight is tough work for anyone but for a chronic babe like me it really is a matter of WEIGHING HEALTHY choices and finding what works for my body.

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I AM MOBILE, CI#35

I am so excited to have my smartphone. I will have so many more video options for this project. Yay!

I do have my DSLR camera but it takes forever and EVER to upload even 10 seconds so I usually just wimp out and use my webcam. I did a longer video with my camera just for practice and it was over an hour to load. Thanks to my phone tonight’s video took a total of maybe five minutes start to finish.

I have had a weird day.

Lots of activity, which is good, but I’m still feeling “off” so I reminded myself I have been on an emotional roller coaster for the past week. But, I have also worked very hard today to stay present and let this day be whatever it needed to be. It needed to be busy and I was very grateful for the distractions. Without keeping myself wrapped up in emotion, I was also able to get more done than I would have if I had been fretting all day.

Why is this important to this journey?

Holding on to my goals is crucial. Weight loss occurs over time but if over time daily habits are sloppy those daily ounces never build to something satisfying by the end of the week. I already had an unimpressive week, numbers-wise, thanks to some wicked water retention and who knows what else last week so the last thing I want is a repeat. Keeping my head in the game becomes one of the most important things I can do for myself.

Emotional eating is not usually a concern for me but it is important to stay present so you know if you are really hungry or trying to fill another need with food.

I went back to the gym for the first time in weeks. Honestly, I was hoping for a rush of endorphins to snap my sour mood. I did feel good when I finished but that post-workout high just did not happen today. I’m not entirely surprised though. Since it has been weeks since I made it to the gym, I was starting back at my “zero” which is what I call my baseline, the amount of activity I can do at one time at any given time. For me it is about 17 minutes on the treadmill at no faster than 2.7 mph and ab work for about 8 minutes with stretching in between. While exercising, I monitor my heart rate so it never goes above 125 bpm until I feel the conditioning return. I also drink extra water to help my body process the natural chemicals produced by exercise. On exercise days, use nutrition to help my body. Including foods high in potassium and B vitamins to aid in recovery and quality protein to give my muscles what they need to repair and grow help me, help my body. All of these steps help reduce post-exertion malaise as well as pain.

With fibromyalgia, anytime my regular workouts are regularly interrupted I have to go back to my zero and build myself back up. The process is slow and annoying but methodical. It helps me avoid excess pain from movement with fibromyalgia so it works for me. One of the biggest lessons I have learned on this whole crazy-fibro-journey is I can only hold myself to the standards of today and not what I was capable of at any previous moment.

I think this is what most fibros miss…they try to hold themselves to what their former bodies were capable of and it never works out well. I see so many women who want to move more, who head to the gym for 30, 60, or even 90 minutes their first time out only to end up in so much pain they rarely return. We’re conditioned to avoid pain but we’re also condition to believe 30-60 minutes of activity is the way to go.

STOP!!! It is insane!!!! I do not know a single fibro who can go from the couch to that much activity without severe physical consequence.

We have to know what we can do and work within that while slowly building our strength and endurance for more.

S-L-O-W-L-Y

How slowly? I never add more than five minutes to my normal routine at any given time. While I am building, I constantly assess my physical health. If I do not feel well enough I may only add one minute to my baseline. The goal is to build as much as it is to avoid as much pain as possible.

With regular gym attendance, it will take me several weeks, at minimum, to work back up to being able to walk on the treadmill for 30+ minutes continuously. I tend to make faster progress with weights after an absence but I think it is because I lifted so much before fibro.

Sometimes, I catch some flack for what I do but what no one seems to consider is how hard I work for my mobility.